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Upper Class Twit of the Year
Upper Class Twit of the Year is a sketch that appears in "The Naked Ant," the twelfth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It also appears in And Now for Something Completely Different. Synopsis It is about an obstacle-course race among five stereotypical, upper-class twits (imbeciles), to determine the 127th Annual Upper-Class Twit of the Year. The competitors are: *Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith (portrayed by Eric Idle) **Has an O-level in chemo-hygiene **Can count up to 4 *Simon Zinc-Trumpet-Harris (portrayed by Terry Jones) **Married to a very attractive table lamp *Nigel Incubator-Jones (portrayed by John Cleese) **Best friend is a tree **Stockbroker in his spare time *Gervaise Brook-Hampster (portrayed by Michael Palin) **Used as a waste-paper basket by his father *Oliver St. John-Mollusc (portrayed by Graham Chapman) **Said to be this year's outstanding twit. **His father was a Cabinet Minister, and his mother won the Derby. Vivian.jpg|Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith Simon.jpg|Simon Zinc-Trumpet-Harris Nigel.jpg|Nigel Incubator-Jones Gervaise.jpg|Gervaise Brook-Hampster Oliver.jpg|Oliver St. John-Mollusc At the start, the twits face the wrong way, so the starter turns them round, then they don't run because they don't know they have to move when the gun goes off. The obstacles are: *'Walking Along The Straight Line' **The Twits must walk along one of several narrow straight lines. *'The Matchbox Jump' **The Twits must jump over a fence three matchboxes high. In And Now For Something Completely Different, this is changed to two matchboxes. *'Kicking The Beggar' **The Twits must approach a beggar with a tray and kick him until he falls over. *'The Hunt Ball Photograph' **The Twits must have their photographs taken and make small talk with a pair of attractive females: Lady Arabella Plunkett and Lady Sarah Pencil-Farthing-Vivian-Steamroller-Adams-Pie-Biscuit-Aftershave-Gore-Stringbottom-Smith. This obstacle is not in And Now For Something Completely Different. *'Reversing Into The Old Lady' **The Twits must get into their sports cars (A Triumph Spitfire and Jaguar E-type in Flying Circus) and reverse them into a cardboard cut-out of an old lady, then speed off. Oliver St. John-Mollusc proves his outstanding twitness by managing to run himself over. This leads straight into... *'Waking The Neighbour' **The Twits must drive their cars forwards and then attempt to wake up a neighbour who is attempting to get some sleep by slamming their doors, tooting their horns, etc. *'Insulting The Waiter' **The Twits must be thoroughly rude to a waiter with a tray. This obstacle is not in And Now For Something Completely Different. *'The Bar' **The Twits must make their way underneath a wooden bar suspended five feet off the ground. This obstacle is not in And Now For Something Completely Different. *'Shooting The Rabbits' **Each Twit is given a shotgun, and he must shoot a rabbit that has been tied very firmly to stakes so it can't move around very much (as the Upper-Class Twit of the Year is only a one-day event). Several of the Twits are forced to bludgeon the rabbits to death with the butt of their gun or a fist. Their failure to hit the rabbits with their bullets is attributed to the misty conditions (caused by the smoke from the guns) and the shooting distance of one foot. *'Taking The Bras Off The Debutantes' **The Twits must remove a bra from a mannequin representing a debutante while standing in front of it. It is claimed to be the most difficult obstacle by the commentator, and some of the twits manage to dismember the mannequins before taking the bras off. *'Shooting Themselves' **Finally, the Twits approach a table with five revolvers on it. The winner is the first Twit to shoot himself. The sketch ends with Gervaise Brook-Hampster coming in first, followed by Smith-Smythe-Smith (shot by Nigel) and Nigel Incubator-Jones in a medal ceremony, while Simon Zinc-Trumpet-Harris manages to club himself unconscious. The three coffins of the winning Twits are placed on the medal rostrum and medals are draped around them. There is a very small crowd, which is mainly made up of cardboard cut-outs of donkeys. The sketch was filmed at Hurlingham Park in Fulham, a location presumably chosen for its proximity to Television Centre. John Cleese has stated that the idea for the "wake the neighbour" part was inspired by an apartment he once rented that was near a bar whose patrons kept him awake at night when they slammed the doors to their cars. Cleese has humorously suggested that this one sketch is the reason why he never received a British honour. In reality, he declined the honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for politically motivated reasons. Monty Python's Flying Circus was cancelled after four episodes in Finnish TV in 1970s after this sketch appeared. This was done because it was said that the sketch was offending people who had cerebral palsy. External links * Complete transcript * no:Upper Class Twit of the Year Category:Sketches Category:The Naked Ant sketches Category:And Now For Something Completely Different sketches